Escape from Luxembourg, 1933-1940: Luxembourg, a Fleeting Sanctuary

ESCAPE FROM LUXEMBOURG, 1933-1940 With Adolf Hitler coming into power on January 30, 1933, Germany quickly degenerated from a democracy to a dictatorship. SA Storm Troopers and SS thugs, Nazi paramilitary forces, orga-nized book burnings, arrests, deportations and the methodical harassment of opposition parties' leaders and Jews. Any organization or individual who would dare to dissent or disparage the par-ty or its leaders would be persecuted. Many sought refuge in neighboring countries; though soon these countries enacted complicit laws, visa and travel restrictions, making escaping Germany and its annexed lands increasingly difficult. Until October 1941, Germany strongly encouraged and coerced Jews, their main target, to leave the country. The little Grand-Duchy of Luxem-bourg, whose border with Germany is formed by the rivers Moselle, Sura and Our became a temporary sanctuary for Jews, artists, writers, musicians and politicians from Austria, Germany, Poland, Russia and other countries. ESCAPE FROM LUXEMBOURG, 1933-1940, documents the flight from Luxembourg to the United States of America of over 1,000 refugees, consisting of some 800 Jews, over 200 artists, writers, politicians and scientists, 56 members of the Grand Ducal Family, royal household, Lux-embourg’s government officials and their families, as well as over 60 exiles, who found sanctuary in the Dominican Republic. Read more